The hell with City-State. Let’s fill out the week with some entries in another series of generic RPG supplements. This is Grimtooth’s Traps Too (1982), the second installment in the series (I did the first a ways back). This one has a cover illustration by the legendary Jeff Dee. The interiors, full of stipples, are by Steve Crompton. I think this is the best illustrated of the series — the traps are often bizarre, and Crompton is quick to use unexpected angles or design schemes to really sell the dynamism.

I still can’t (and probably never will) divine the intention here. For me, these are entertaining traps to read about and admire and maybe, in my darkest fantasies, contemplate using. But I never would! I think just about every trap in this book (and all the others) are far beyond dickish. Traps already test the GM/Player compact, and Grimtooth’s are routinely unfair — impossible to detect or avoid, almost always to crippling, maiming or deadly effect. In fact, many rely on positioning of body parts or multiple characters that are outside the mechanics of play. They’re funny in the book, in play I can’t see these as being anything but alienating.

That said, I really like the lead lined stone that sheaths a glowing, radioactive sword (contributed by Liz Danforth and Michael Stackpole)!